James h



2 Sheets--Sheet I. A

J. E. BLBSSING Steam-Trap.

Patented Aug. 27,1878..-

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

-J. H. BLBSSING.

Steam-Trap.

No. 207,484. Patented Aug., 27,1878.

TH: NoRRls PETERS ca.. WASHINGTON, n4 f:A

` -made to accomplish this same result.

UNITED .STATES JAMES' nqnnsssgme, or ALBANY, New YORK.

' IMPROVEMENT "IN STEAM-TRAPS.

Specilication forming part of Lette-is Patent No. vQDAS, dated August 27, 1878; application filed e November 6, 1877'.

To al'l'zchom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. BLnssrNG, of the city of Albany and AState of N ew York,

have inventeda-new and useful Improvement is 'received` from coils situated either above or below the level of the boiler and my apparatus could also be used, though not very advan tageously, to feed to the boiler such water as might be required to keep up the water-level init. Many apparatuses have before now been In the present invention there is no sliding or vibrating part communicating with the exterior, norl is there any such contrivance within thel vessel connecting steam-spacesof different pressf ures. My apparatus, moreover, is contained Ain a solidA casing, and operates entirely within itself without necessitating any external mov# ging parts. Itis also very compact, which is an advantage where 1t is to be used in narrow spaces over-a boiler. Another advantage of thisapparatus is that the parts, valves, and connections are all readily accessible by removing the cover of the afi-- params.

A In my drawings similar letters .of reference refer to-similar parts in both the figures.

Figure; 1 represents a general perspective elevation of my apparatus. Fig. Zrepresents a cross-section of the same through the pipes C and E In this drawing the position of the pipeD has been changed, so thatit ispar'allel with the .pipe E, thereby enabling the entire lapparatus to be shown in one cross-section.

.It is evident that the position of the. pipe D is immaterial.

My apparatus consists, generally, ina vasesliaped vessel', A, supported on a pedestal, P. Three pipes communicate with the interior of this vessel-'the supply-pipe E, the return-pipe B, and the steam-pipe D. The pipe E is -con nected with the water-supply, the pipe D with the steam-space of the boiler, the pipe It with the bottom of the boiler'. `The. pipes E and R are prpvided with check-valves e and c, openinfgtoward theboilcr. Within the vessel A is the bucket B, havin g'approximately the same shape as-the vessel A. This bucket is'sup'fv portedona rod, p, which terminates at its lower end in thepipe a, which slides upon the rod or guide-stein b. The upper end of the rodv p" slides in the tubular guide-channel o, situatedat thetop of the vessel, so that it will beseen that the bucket B can rise and fall verticallyv in the vessel A and its central axis is maintained constant vwith .reference-to the vvesselA. f

Surrounding the vessel A is the tank T,

' which `communicates with the vessel A byi two.

small openings,l m and u, the will be presently explained.

On the upper part of the rod pare 'the sliding rin-gs or collars g and f, which can be ad' object of which justed on the rodvp bymeans of the set-screws4 d and l. These collars act against the leverl y,.pivoted at the point s, by comingin contact with thearm z ofthe said lever y.- The other end of this-lever controls a valve, t, as will be readily seen, so that when the arm z is raised the ,steam-valve t, situated in the steam-'pipe D,will be closed, while,

beopen, and it is evident that this steam-valve t will be opened whenever the bucket B'has ,descended to the bottom of the vessel A'. The

, pipe C, which4 communicates with the bottom of the b oiler, is provided with the descending pipe or siphon C', which reaches nearly -to the bottom of the bucket B. This return-pipe C: is also provided with the upper tubular chamber r and valve for' the .purpose of receiving. such air as may escape from the water during itspassage through -the apparatus. i

The supply-pipe E, provided with the checkvalve e, has anv opening,1fv,. so arranged that the water flowing -througlh it willinotenter the bucket B atrst, but wil lpass outside of such bucket, and will fill the' space hbctweenthe bucket B and the vessel A. .i

' The voperation ofthe apparatus can now be understood. VVgV-ater' is first caused to enter the vessel A by opening the Vair-valve x, 'pre1- viously described, and by shutting oil'` the steam in the pipe D, which communicates with the steam-space of the hoiler. The steam acting upon the water in the' coils, since the pressure in the vessel Ais relicvcd'by the alrva1ve PATENT owing.

whenit is depressed. and in the position shown 'in' the figure, it will w, win be forced to enter the vessel, und win tnthe space between the vessel A and the bucket B, and thereby the bucket B'will be floated. y As it rises, the collar f will come in contact vD can be opened, and the pressure of steam upon the upper surface of the puppet-valve t will continue to hold said valve closed. Vater continues tc enter the vessel A through the passage fv, floating the bucket B unt-il its level is higher than .the level of the upper surface of this bucket, when it will begin to overflow into the bucket. Meanwhile it has filled the tankl T by means ofthe openings m and n. As the water continues to .overflow intothe bucket B, it is obvious that presently, the weight of the bucket Band of the water with: in it'being greater than the weight of the water lwhich it displaces, the. bucket B and its load of water will sink. As soon as it sinks, the

part of the vessel A. This operation equalizes the pressure in the vessel A and the steami space of the boiler. It will be observed that Ihe arm z of the lever ,y is considerably longer than the other arm, which controls the valve. The weight of this arm, when once the 'puppetvalve t is lifted, is sufiicient -to keep this valve open, since there is but little current of steam passing through the pipe D, until the arm z of the lever y, which straddlesthe rod p, is struck by the'ascending collar f. `In this war the gradualreduction of pressure which woulv nec. essarily be caused by the gradual closing of the 'valve vt is avoided, and the -full boiler- -pressure is maintained in the vessel A until the valve tis suddenly closed, as will be here inafter explained. This evidently could not be accomplished if the valve t and rod p were permanently connected to each other, since the moment the bucket-B began to rise the valve t would begin to close.

It is likewise plain, as soon as the bucket B beginsto sink, owing to the fact that its weight, with the weight of the load of water which it contains, is greater than theweight of the volume of water which itdisplaces, that the surrounding water will begin to enter the bucket B and cause it to fall suddenly, and that there will be an overflow into this bucket vB of so much water as is containcdin the vesselA be- This fact, therefore, causes an increase in-A the water contained in the bucket B. This,

overflow like-wisegives a very positive descent to =the:bucketB`,and' gives it the necessary force co-'open ,the steamvalve t wide, since it begins' tof descendy -before the collar g strikes the arm z` of theilever y, and l it has therefore acquired a certain momentum and impetus, which opensV the steam-valve suddenly and'.

surely, while, if it were not for this lastimotion, it might happen that the weight ofthe bucket and itsload ot'water, being only slightly greater than" the floating-power ofv the surrounding water, would be unable to start the steam-valve, andthe bucket'would be hung up and the apparatus come to rest.'

Steam now enters through thc .pipe D and presses upon the surface of the water in the bucket B, which bucket is then in the position shown in Fig. 2.' It is obvious that the 'aircock a," should now be closed. The pressure of the steam upon the surface of the water in theA bucket B will force the water through the siphon C', pipe C, check-valve c, and piperRback into the boiler, since the vessel A is situated above the water-level of the boiler, and the pipes 0,0, andB form a Siphon. Itis obvious.

that the opening of the steam-valve twill have closed the check-valve ein the supply-pipe. E,

and that no more-waterwill enter from said supply-pipe. The water in the bucket B will' 1 be' gradually forced out through the pipes C',

C, and B until the weight of the bucketB and its contained water is less than the floatingpower of the water' contained in the space h, whenit is obvious that the bucket B will rise,

4.Since the pressure admitted by the e' ual. jfizi'ng 'steam-pipe D. upon the surface -o the water contained in the h ucketB is no greater than the pressure in'the retnrn-pipeB, andv n since the water in the'buket B. in Vits passage. to the boiler has to rscfthrough the siphen C) C', itis evident that some means must beeinployed te lill this Siphon GU at the. time of" f starting the machine. Thi'sjis donc by open--` ing the'air-.valve 4v.. It. is evident that when. once the machine has begun vtrxoperafte the siphon G Cwill'be'. permanently filled with water; and that.' when the valve t is opened,l

since the whole apparatus is situated above.

the water-level of the boiler, the pressure of 'f steam and the weight of the Water nsnchL vessel, acting through .the Siphon C, will cause the water to liow back through tube Bv inta Y the boiler. As it'rises it iS, obvious thatthe" level of the water .between the bucket Bv and the vessel A would lfall ver-y rapidly; but itis necessary, in order that the bucketB rise high enough to close the valve t, that the level'of' the water between the bucket B andthe ves# sel A be approximately maintained.

It is also necessary that the steam-valve t bekept open until the bucket B has been. pretty thoroughly emptied and the water which it contains has been driveninto the-- boiler .by the return-pipe R. v

It is plain that, if the, tank l were not 'attached to the vessel A, as; the bucket Bv rose the `water contained in the space'k-between the bucket B and the vessel A would fall rapidly. The Water withinihe bucket B would continue to pass into the boilerby means.

ofthepipe R until a point would bereached when. the vsteam-valve t' would be partially closed and the pressure in the vessclA would -be insufiicienttoforce the waterin the bucketB back into the boiler, owing to the fact of its passage through the narrow opening caused by the partial closing of the valve t. The pressure in the vessel A would preventany further entry ofthe water by the return-pipe-E, and` therefore the entire apparatus would come to a standstill.

It vis necessary to the proper operation of.l

means of the supply-pipe E. ThiS. result isI accomplished by means of the tank T, which communicates with the interior of the'vessel A by two small holes, m and u, the aperture m being situated in the upper portion of the tank T, the aperture n at its lower portion. These holes' are so small that it requires a considerable time to allo'w the escape of the water 'contained withint-he tank Tinto the vessel A Therefore, after the bucket B begins to rise, the level of the water in the space k between the' bucket B and the.

through the aperture m.

vessel A will fall rapidly, thereby preventing "the further elevation of the vbucketV 'BI This prevents `the steam-valve t from closing, since this valve is kept open, as previously described, by the weight of the arm z. As soon as the water-level in the space k has fallen below the aperture n the water in the tank T will begin to slowly enter the space between the bucket-B andthe vessel A, thereby filling the space which has been emptied bythe de-L scent of the water between the bucket B and the vessel A due to the rising of the bucket 'B-,which'we have just described, the bucket B being continually made lighter, owing to the fact of the water within it beingforced back to theboiler through the pipe It. It is evident that a point will nally be reachedwhen .the water which is returned to the space k fromfthe tank T will cause the bucket B to oncemore ascend with a'positive motion, and

thereby' clese the valve t, which valve will be irml y closed, owing to the difference in pressure between the steam contained in the pipe AD and the steam in the vessel A, which will immediately begin to. condense; water will again-enter through the pipe E and check- 'vave c the -bucketB willagain fall, but will not open the steam-valve t until the collar ghas come in contue't'with the, arm z, whereby a certain amount of lost motion is allowed, and time is given to till, or partially lill, the

bucket-B. From the preceding description it will be seen that the bucket B can both rise and fall to acertain extent without afectin g thesteamvalve t, which valve remains in the position in which it has last been placed by-the bucketuntil acted upon by the other collar surroundin g the stem l?. In other words, the valvet remains open after it has been opened nntilit is struckby a collar, f, and it relnaius shut after it has' been shut until it is opened by the collar g, which arrangement produces the eii'ect which has previously been accomplished by tumblingbobs and similar arrangementsnamely, of keeping the valve wide open or tight 'shut until its positionis suddenly and surely changed, which is a necessity with this classof apparatus.

The purpose of the lost moti-on between the collar g and the collar j' a-nd of the tank T is,

to a certain extent, the same; for the tank Tv is so constrncted, as has been previously dcscribed, that it slows the u'pward movement of the bucket B and allows a certain time for the water to beforced out by the siphon, as there is a'certain amount of lost motion .bctween the valve-moving collars.

Attempts have previously been made to re-j strain thenpward movement of buckets similar 'to B by means'of detents; but the accomplishin g of this same result by means of the laws governing the ow of the waterand ot" the action of steam upon it I consider a great improvement over the method of doing it by merely mechanical contrivances.

' During the operation of the machine the air- Vcock z vshouldbe left slightly open to allowof the escape of -any air which may accumulate in the upper part of the vessel A.

Itis plain that the apparatus .connecting the rising and falling bucket B and thesteamvalve t is contained. in the same space, inl which respect this valve differs from most of those which have gone before.

It is a matter of the utmost importance that l there be no'stufng-box required in an apparatusiof this kind, for the reason that a stem or rod passing-through a stuiiing-box is very4 llikelyto stick and prevent the operation of the machine. Thosestems sometimes connect thesteam-space with the atmosphere', and 'sometimes-'two steam-spaces at different pressures. Both arrangements are objectionable.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-` ,1. An automatic steam-trap for the purpose of returning water to the boiler, having an open-topfloat, into which water enters and whence it isv delivered to the boiler, therebyT causing said open-.top iloat to rise and fall,

when the said open-top -tloat is connected to an equali'zing steam-valve by a connecting ap- -paratus which does not connect a steam-space and the atmosphere, nor two steam-spaces of' different pressures, and when the opening and closing of the steam -valves is not effected gradually, but suddenly and surely, byreason of the fact that there is a certain amount of lost float and its action on 'the valve.

2. An automatic steam-trap consistingl of a motion between the movement of theopcn-top containin g-Vlcssel and arisin g and falling opentop ioat, when the water which enters said trap first fills the space between the open-top float and the containing-Vessel, and when the equalizing steam-valve is not immediately actuated by the movement of the open-topvloat, Ybut the open-top ioat is connected to said steamwalve by means of apparatus allowing a certain amount of lost motion', substantially as described.

3. An automatic steam-trap which consists of an inclosing-vessel, A, and a rising and falling open-top. iioat, B, when the inclosing-vessel is provided with a tank communicating with its upper' portion, substantially as dcscribed.

l falling vessel, and with apparatus, substantially as described, independentl of the mere inow of water from the supply, whereby the water-level between the rising and falling vessel andthe containingcasing isv maintained and raised after the vessel begins to ascend.

6. The combination of the vessel A, open top i'oat B, and rodv p, provided with collars 'g and f, operating the steam-valve t, when the collars gand f are separated for the purpose of allowing a certain amount of lost motion before ,opening or closing the valve, substantially as described.

7. In an automatic steam-trap for returning water to the boiler, the combination of a shell, A, with a Siphon, C yand C', provided with the air-cock x, for the purpose oflling said siphon, substantially as described.

8. An-automatic steamtrap provided with Y .JAMES H. BLESSING.

Witnesses N. DroKnRsoN, Jr., p S. .F. SULLIVAN. 

